Gillette Wild Fall to Great Falls

The Gillette Wild Junior hockey tier III (28-13-4) team was unable to sweep their weekend series from Great Falls (13-29-1-1) as they fell to the Americans 3-2 on Saturday night at Spirit Hall Ice Arena.

Gillette got on the scoreboard first when Taylor Motsinger scored on a power play at the 11:32mark of the first period. Alex King and Ronnie Wilshusen assisted on Motsinger's league leading 45th goal of the season. Then Great falls went on to score 3 unanswered goals in the 1st and 2nd periods to take a 3-1 lead.

Gillette's Steve Patafio found the back of the net on an assist by Taylor Motsinger on another power play with under 3 minutes remaining in the 2nd period, however that was the last goal of the game as both goalies stopped every shot that came their way.

The American's Erik Powell stopped 29 of his 37 shots in the 3rd period as the Wild just couldn't get another puck past him. For Gillette Sean Kelley was saddled with the loss as he only faced 22 shots while making 19 saves.

The Wild will have their final regular season home game on Thursday against Billings before heading back out on the road to close out the regular season at 1st place Helena on Friday and last place Bozeman on Saturday. Thursday's game will also be Family Appreciation Night where an entire family can get in for $20 and the 1st 350 fans to get into the arena will receive a free team poster.

For more on the Gillette Wild go to www.gillettewildhockey.com